The limits of current technology are being pushed by
Baumgartner's planned supersonic plunge — for instance, he will
rely upon the largest balloon ever built for manned flight to
carry him into the stratosphere. During his initial free fall in
the near-vacuum conditions of the stratosphere, he will have
relatively little control over steering and attitude.

Baumgartner will be wearing a pressure suit similar to what
supersonic SR-71
Blackbird pilots once wore. At higher altitudes, however,
"the suit stops needing to become a pressure suit and starts
needing to become a small spacecraft," observes Jeff Feige, chief
executive of spacesuit maker Orbital Outfitters.

Orbital Outfitters has worked on spacesuit designs for both NASA
and commercial spaceflight companies such as SpaceX. But it also
has considered suits that could work for "space-diving" from
suborbital or orbital vehicles, whether for emergency escapes or
for thrill seeking.

Getting the technology

Anyone trying to go higher than the Red Bull Stratos attempt
would need a specialized space-diving suit that protects him or
her from even more extreme conditions. Jumping from higher
altitudes means reaching higher speeds during free fall in both
vacuum and atmospheric conditions, and creates extra challenges
for the spacesuit wearer to control descent and avoid going into
a fatal spin. [ Ultimate
Skydiving: Falling Human to Break Sound Barrier? ]

"At high altitude, you go faster and faster and faster before you
hit the thickening atmosphere," Feige told TechNewsDaily. "You'll
have control issues in vacuum, and then you get the atmosphere."

High-altitude space jumping also would require rockets and
suborbital flight vehicles similar to the ones being built by
space tourism companies such as
Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace, Feige said. Jumping off a
fast-moving rocket ship rather than a relatively stable balloon
would represent a whole new challenge for would-be space divers.

Feige likes to refer to spacesuits as integrated parts of
spaceships rather than the "clothes you wear on launch day" — his
way of saying that spacesuits must be tailored to the specific
characteristics of each vehicle. Space diver suits may share the
same fundamental technologies but will require different
characteristics for leaping from an XCOR Aerospace vehicle
traveling in a parabolic curve versus one of Blue Origin's
straight up, straight down flights.

A space-diving exit from a spacecraft in orbit may end up making
less sense than just using entire capsules as escape pods, Feige
said. But he and Orbital Outfitters still see the potential use
of space-diving suits as backups for suborbital flights.

From skydiving to space jumping

If the Red Bull Stratos jump succeeds, video footage of
Baumgartner free-falling in his full-body pressure suit and
helmet undoubtedly will inspire people around the world. But the
attempt by itself barely scratches the technological challenges
of true space-diving. And a single-person stunt is a far cry from
a space-diving industry.

"Everything goes slower than you want it," Feige said. "For the
space-diving stuff, the business case isn't there yet, even if
it's technologically achievable."

The commercial spaceflight industry remains small and relatively
untested, even if it has grown through the big-dollar bets of
wealthy entrepreneurs such as SpaceX's
Elon Musk and Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson. Space-diving
suits as emergency escape options may make business sense only
after spaceflight firms have launched more than a few space
tourists and astronauts on suborbital flights.

"Our fortunes wax and wane on people actually doing stuff and
flying and having money to buy stuff," Feige explained. "Right
now it's still a very hard and tight market."

Still, Feige pointed to the skydiving business as a possible
model for space-diving. Parachute makers originally supplied
parachutes as emergency equipment for military and civilian
pilots, but recreational skydiving eventually spun off as its own
profitable industry. Similarly, space-diving suits initially
designed for astronauts or space tourists could someday spawn a
recreational space jump industry for more people than just
sponsored daredevils.